I think the problem is really that we need platforms such as reddit on the internet, they are kind of part of its essential infrastructure. But running any infrastructure under the profit maximization scheme will always end up in self destruction. They are making enough money, they can easily go on keeping the API open, but there is no such thing as a sustainable business, they are forced to make more profit than they made more last year.
But I think in truth they can do a lot before really destroying themselves, closing 3rd party apps is going to be barely noticable. In theory we could have some sort of decentralized dApp alternative, but since everyone working on that sort of stuff is a borderline criminal scam artist I don't see anything real will ever come out of this grift.
>But running any infrastructure under the profit maximization scheme will always end up in self destruction.
That's why the parts of the internet that are "essential infrastructure" would serve us all better if they were non-profit (or a Benefit Corporation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benefit_corporation).
Watching the promise of the Internet get flushed down the drain, I have developed a healthy appetite for paying cash to eliminate surveillance, ads and general enshitification. I'd much rather donate that cash to an organization that is actively trying to provide a public benefit.
I still maintain that Usenet was the original 'reddit/digg'. And the webapps competitors have tried to cater, and fail.
I'd rather see a newer Usenet protocol... Say something that also integrates with the Fediverse. But there's no "money" for open protocols, even though companies again and again try to emulate "Usenet, but profitized".
This feels like a longer tail of the image hosting problem, btw.
I don’t think you need to go full Reddit to replace it, just an interest in a niche and a desire to host a website.
The struggle is that it takes more than love of a subject to bootstrap a community. I could see someone broadly succeeding by building modern forum software alongside an optional discovery platform that links forums together. I know there are federated platforms out there, but I think a large portion of them have lost the thread of the user journey in attempts to meet the technical challenges of federation.
Reddit's charm is that you can easily discover brand new communities and it's zero friction to get involved, you find a new subreddit and start interacting. No need to remember the new site or set up new credentials. A bunch of different communities adds all that friction back in.
I agree with your first statement. For years, I have been working on a website/app/community platform to support learning and debate about the productive uses of nuclear energy.
My vision is more of a combination of the best of Reddit, online courses, blogging, photos, video, learning games, and simulations. More of a slice across many different types of app, tuned to the topic at hand that interests me. It's fun to work on, even if my progress is slow.
Reproducing r/nuclear seems like a nightmare scenario. Lots of arguing. Tough to control the tone and screen out-dated information. It's the classic problem with social media, discerning the difference between reality and myth. Plus, reading through screaming matches is not a fun way to learn.
Aggregating these smaller nightmarish sites, who wants to do that?
Yeah so OPs point about "making plenty of money" isn't really true. Now, I'm sure they could pull a twitter and layoff 75% of the company and reach profitability.
No this is the entire point I'm making, they are not interested in creating a sustainable infrastructure for the internet, they want investors they want to IPO they want to grow and grow and grow. If they destroy themselves in the process it's a bet everyone invested along the way is perfectly fine with, demanding even. The entire structure of this is cancerous.
Yeah I get your point now, I agree the entire grow at all costs is not good for building a sustainable company. Investors are never happy with normal growth rates, they want exponential growth which isn't possible after a certain point without ruining your product.
But I think in truth they can do a lot before really destroying themselves, closing 3rd party apps is going to be barely noticable. In theory we could have some sort of decentralized dApp alternative, but since everyone working on that sort of stuff is a borderline criminal scam artist I don't see anything real will ever come out of this grift.